Architecture + Nature | Merge two worlds to create a new one

Welcome to ArchiNature! An independent eco blog site about the ins and outs of incorporating natural life and light into architecture and design. This blog is my plan to encourage the use of nature in our surroundings, homes and buildings – particularly those in the cities. This is a way of helping us get more in touch with our true nature in our hectic modern day lives. I believe in the importance of surrounding ourselves with natural beauty and light to help us to stay strong, happy and healthy, not only as individuals but as a society as a whole.

The proof that nature in our surroundings heals both our bodies and our minds is overwhelming. Even the visual aspect of plant life has been proven to improve health and the rate of which the body heals. I believe that this is because the growth of nature can also help to assist your own personal growth as well as reminding us of renewal and our body’s ability to renew itself. For we are nature, that is all and everything that we are, being re-connected to this in our everyday lives can only re-connect us to ourselves. Inviting more nature into our modern day lives is something that will create balance and harmony in the amazing urban world that we have created.

A botanical explosion has taken over one of Taipei’s ordinary city buses recently. It’s a way to give commuters a stunning natural experience whilst travelling.

The world’s first “Forest Bus,” was designed by florist, Alfie Lin and designer Xiao Qing-Yang. It has been transformed into wonderland of turf-lined seats, hanging tropical plants and ferns. It’s wonderful that this has continued to run as a mode of transport as a way of treating the community to a natural adventure.

Although is began as an art installation, it’s a very welcome breath of fresh air and asset to the city. Especially as the air pollution here and become extremely high.

Any chance to bring city dwellers closer to nature is an extremely useful use of the city’s money in my eyes! It’s cost around 3,300 USD to prepare the bus and runs on the popular 203 route between Taipei’s Tianmu neighborhood and New Taipei City’s Xizhi District, stopping also at the famous Raohe night market and an art museum. The trial period was launched on 24th June 2017 and was due to last for 5 days.

Hopefully this project has great benefits on the community they, causing the government to invest in keeping the buses like this running more long term!

I’m always looking for interesting inspiration that helps us think ‘outside the box’ in terms of design. I think it’s important to be always searching for new ideas to change the world of design and create things that haven’t been seen before. Here are just a few things that can help inspire you in your home!

The leading architectural practice in Vietnam, Trong Nghia Architects is made up of more than 40 international architects and engineers that work together on commercial, residential and cultural projects all over the globe. They are know for elements of light, wind and water as well as utilising natural local materials in their builds. Their manifesto is to create green architecture for the 21st century as well as maintaining the traditional expression of asian design.

The above project is the Administrative building of FPT University, located near Hanoi. As you can see the building is made up of cubes to give this beautiful, natural checker board effect. The simple white cubic shapes allow the trees and the natural wood tones to stand out and speak through the building. It’s complete with a waterfall of rooftop gardens and many trees on the outside of the building to help keep it away from the sunlight. I love the fluidity of the inside space as well, it’s open and flowing, which invites natural movement and freedom for the inhabitants. Natural light shines beautifully through the trees and into the captivating triple hight space, such an incredible setting for a university!

This amazing interactive space designed by Ruetemple can be used for work, play and leisure. The relaxed approach to a study space can help young or older minds to thrive and work at their own pace. It’s made up of different levels, which include lounging hammocks.

In addition to this, there are adjustable furniture pieces that can be positioned in a variety of different ways. Made up of a trio of sofas, they can be used as beds, seating areas as well as having the ability to create the illusion of a separate room within a room. This innovative design can be used as an interesting cube shaped ‘privacy pod’.

I love how engaging and exciting this space is, it makes the idea of work more interesting and creative. I know I would be more excited to study in a space like this!

LAVA Architects introduce these stunning natural creations into the world of architecture. There innovative styled structures are all based around the idea of nature and greenery. Feast your eyes on the incredible vast open spaces, shrouded with light and plant life. Here are just a few examples of their buildings, “Jeju Hills hotel resort”, from the volcanic island houses in Korea, as well as “King Abdulaziz city of science and technology” in Riyadh-Saudi Arabia. You can also see “The square 3” in Berlin, the “Tower skin” in Sydney and last but not least the “Green climate fund” in Bonn, Germany.

The colourful wildlife contrasts beautifully with the sleek clean white lines of the structures, In most of these cases, the shrubs are intertwining between sections of the walls and levels, breaking them up and giving the aesthetic more depth and unique beauty. The light, the colours and the open flowing shapes of the structures, all create these heavenly, euphoric buildings. One can only imagine how blissful it would be to inhabit these spaces.

With buildings popping up all over the globe, they are obviously aiming to tackle the world with their breath taking style, and it’s working wonders. I hope you keep up the inspirational work LAVA Architects.

Well it’s in! Here’s the artwork for the first addition of archinature magazine. I hope you enjoy and hopefully there will be a lot more to come. I would like to thank melissa for her wonderful article, and all the amazing designers that have helped inspire me along the way. Lewis Evans, helped market archinature and his enthusiasm and creativity helped drive the entire project. And of corse I couldn’t have done any of this without the innovation and pure brilliance of all the amazing sustainable schemes happening all over the world today. I truly believe in the importance of one single person and the power of us all uniting together to make a difference in the world. With that, I thank you.

Click here>>>> magazine final <<<<- It may take a while to load the double page spread properly

These are the amazing paintings are by Audrey Kawaski, she creates this range by using mixed media (oil, ink and graphite) on wood. It’s a beautiful combination that works perfectly together to create something truly unique and natural.

These are a great inspiration for my wood piece for my final project, So far I have struggled experimenting with different paints that would work with the wood, but this seems to be a great combination.

This ‘moss graffiti’ has become a new trend as it’s so easy to make yourself and so much can be done with it. It’s amazing that you can create stunning and unique looking artwork and features cheaply at home! This is something that i’m going to be using for my final product at my degree show, I will document my progress continuously throughout this month. Below are some beautiful moss graffiti examples, my group’s experiments so far, as well as information about making it yourself…

This is the beautiful new cultural centre in the popular Taiwanese city of Taichung. This centre is an example of the amazing sustainable buildings popping up all over the world, we thought this proposal was definitely worth sharing.

Feist you eyes of this lush array of green roofs, alive with vibrant and healthy plant life. Not only is the building an attractive example of natural design and open, flowing, bright interiors but it also is powered completely by renewable energy sources. 40% of it’s energy come from the wind and the rest from the sun.

To protect visitors from air pollution, there is a system that suck fresh clean air from the surrounding nature and put’s it back into the building. It’s amazing that we have these types of systems being invited into new building for the rest of the world to look up to. One step at a time, design can change our future!